37 min
Episode 7 - Dr. Natalie Whitehead, Co-Founder Exeter Science Centre Beyond Your Research Degree
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- Education
Welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast from the University of Exeter Doctoral College! The podcast about non-academic careers and all the opportunities available to you... beyond your research degree! In this episode Kelly Preece, Researcher Development Manager talks to Dr. Natalie Whitehead, co-founder of the Exeter Science Centre.
Here are some links to the different organisations and schemes we discussed in the podcast:
Dr. Natalie Whitehead Linkedin
Exeter Science Centre
Student Start Ups
SETsquared
Exeter City Futures
Exeter Science Park
Kaleider
The Ocean Clean-Up
The Impact Lab
National Marine Aquarium
CDT Metamaterials
Music from https://filmmusic.io ’Cheery Monday’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses
Podcast transcript
100:00:10,940 --> 00:00:23,510Hello and welcome to the Beyond your Research Degree podcast by the University of Exeter Doctoral College
200:00:23,510 --> 00:00:27,590Hello, everyone, and welcome to the latest episode of Beyond Your Research Degree.
300:00:27,590 --> 00:00:34,550I'm your host, Kelly Preece, and I'm delighted for this episode to be joined by one of our recent graduates, Dr Natalie Whitehead.
400:00:34,550 --> 00:00:39,770Natalie, are you happy to introduce yourself? OK, great.
500:00:39,770 --> 00:00:46,640So I'm Natalie Whitehead. I recently finished my PhD in physics.
600:00:46,640 --> 00:00:54,050I was looking at spin waves through magnets, which are just a special type of wave that travels through magnets.
700:00:54,050 --> 00:00:58,310That was my PhD and that finished in September.
800:00:58,310 --> 00:01:07,910And I'm now the founder and director alongside my colleague, Dr Alice Mills for the Exeter Science Centre.
900:01:07,910 --> 00:01:12,920Talk to me about the Exeter Science Centre. How how did this come about?
1000:01:12,920 --> 00:01:20,180So this is something that I've been thinking about for, oh, I don't know, probably just a bit over a year now.
1100:01:20,180 --> 00:01:26,390But a year and a half. And basically, I I was trying to work out what to do after my PhD
1200:01:26,390 --> 00:01:32,810So this who was in physics and during my PhD and undergraduate degree,
1300:01:32,810 --> 00:01:38,180I was really involved in doing public engagement with research and a lot of science outreach.
1400:01:38,180 --> 00:01:45,260I absolutely love talking about science and and speaking to the public about it and showing them demos and getting their
1500:01:45,260 --> 00:01:53,660views and trying to answer questions and things and basically just trying to inspire them about how amazing science is.
1600:01:53,660 --> 00:01:59,540So I was trying to work out what to do after the PhD, which would, you know,
1700:01:59,540 --> 00:02:04,970be good for me, but also for something that I can really contribute towards.
1800:02:04,970 --> 00:02:08,770So, you know, the climate crisis is a really big thing at the moment.
1900:02:08,770 --> 00:02:14,370Of course, it should be and should have been for the. I don't know how many decades.
2000:02:14,370 --> 00:02:23,930And I really feel like I have some kind of responsibility to do something with my physics training, which is useful.
2100:02:23,930 --> 00:02:27,350So I was trying to work out what to do and whether, you know,
2200:02:27,350 --> 00:02:32,030whether I should go and work for one of these amazing Start-Up companies doing cool things.
2300:02:32,030 --> 00:02:34,280You know, I was looking at the the ocean clean up.
2400:02:34,280 --> 00:02:41,780I think what they're doing is amazing, using science and tech to solve the problem and a global issue and lots of other companies like that.
2500:02:41,780 --> 00:02:50,990It's nice thinking. Well, you know, I could go and work for someone like that. Will I be the best scientist or engineer to do that?
2600:02:50,990 --> 00:02:56,240I don't know. But I thought really what my what my
Welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast from the University of Exeter Doctoral College! The podcast about non-academic careers and all the opportunities available to you... beyond your research degree! In this episode Kelly Preece, Researcher Development Manager talks to Dr. Natalie Whitehead, co-founder of the Exeter Science Centre.
Here are some links to the different organisations and schemes we discussed in the podcast:
Dr. Natalie Whitehead Linkedin
Exeter Science Centre
Student Start Ups
SETsquared
Exeter City Futures
Exeter Science Park
Kaleider
The Ocean Clean-Up
The Impact Lab
National Marine Aquarium
CDT Metamaterials
Music from https://filmmusic.io ’Cheery Monday’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses
Podcast transcript
100:00:10,940 --> 00:00:23,510Hello and welcome to the Beyond your Research Degree podcast by the University of Exeter Doctoral College
200:00:23,510 --> 00:00:27,590Hello, everyone, and welcome to the latest episode of Beyond Your Research Degree.
300:00:27,590 --> 00:00:34,550I'm your host, Kelly Preece, and I'm delighted for this episode to be joined by one of our recent graduates, Dr Natalie Whitehead.
400:00:34,550 --> 00:00:39,770Natalie, are you happy to introduce yourself? OK, great.
500:00:39,770 --> 00:00:46,640So I'm Natalie Whitehead. I recently finished my PhD in physics.
600:00:46,640 --> 00:00:54,050I was looking at spin waves through magnets, which are just a special type of wave that travels through magnets.
700:00:54,050 --> 00:00:58,310That was my PhD and that finished in September.
800:00:58,310 --> 00:01:07,910And I'm now the founder and director alongside my colleague, Dr Alice Mills for the Exeter Science Centre.
900:01:07,910 --> 00:01:12,920Talk to me about the Exeter Science Centre. How how did this come about?
1000:01:12,920 --> 00:01:20,180So this is something that I've been thinking about for, oh, I don't know, probably just a bit over a year now.
1100:01:20,180 --> 00:01:26,390But a year and a half. And basically, I I was trying to work out what to do after my PhD
1200:01:26,390 --> 00:01:32,810So this who was in physics and during my PhD and undergraduate degree,
1300:01:32,810 --> 00:01:38,180I was really involved in doing public engagement with research and a lot of science outreach.
1400:01:38,180 --> 00:01:45,260I absolutely love talking about science and and speaking to the public about it and showing them demos and getting their
1500:01:45,260 --> 00:01:53,660views and trying to answer questions and things and basically just trying to inspire them about how amazing science is.
1600:01:53,660 --> 00:01:59,540So I was trying to work out what to do after the PhD, which would, you know,
1700:01:59,540 --> 00:02:04,970be good for me, but also for something that I can really contribute towards.
1800:02:04,970 --> 00:02:08,770So, you know, the climate crisis is a really big thing at the moment.
1900:02:08,770 --> 00:02:14,370Of course, it should be and should have been for the. I don't know how many decades.
2000:02:14,370 --> 00:02:23,930And I really feel like I have some kind of responsibility to do something with my physics training, which is useful.
2100:02:23,930 --> 00:02:27,350So I was trying to work out what to do and whether, you know,
2200:02:27,350 --> 00:02:32,030whether I should go and work for one of these amazing Start-Up companies doing cool things.
2300:02:32,030 --> 00:02:34,280You know, I was looking at the the ocean clean up.
2400:02:34,280 --> 00:02:41,780I think what they're doing is amazing, using science and tech to solve the problem and a global issue and lots of other companies like that.
2500:02:41,780 --> 00:02:50,990It's nice thinking. Well, you know, I could go and work for someone like that. Will I be the best scientist or engineer to do that?
2600:02:50,990 --> 00:02:56,240I don't know. But I thought really what my what my
37 min